Award
Winning author, Lizzy Ford, gives us an emotional, sexy read with her first Sons of War novel, SEMPER MINE.
A
Marine captain tortured by the death of his men in Iraq returns home and falls
in love with the sister of one of the slain, who blames him for the massacre
that killed her brother. SEMPER MINE, is a standalone novel in the
Sons of War contemporary military romance series.
“A freak accident landed both of the Khavalov twins under my command, just before a routine mission turned into a nightmare. I brought home one twin in a coffin and the other in a coma missing his leg. I did everything right – and still people died. I can’t forget that night or how many lives it changed, including mine. It’s natural for their sister, Katya, to blame me. I made one decision in the middle of a firefight, and it shattered her sheltered world. I’m the ice to her fire, and when we first meet, it’s not pretty. I don’t fear war or death, and I am definitely not going to let a beautiful woman with a quick temper and broken heart scare me off, either. I know she’s hurting, and I’m determined to make sure she’s okay. It’s the least I can do for the twins. I may have failed them that night, but I won’t fail her. What I’m not counting on: the feelings she ignites within me.” – Captain Sawyer Mathis
Some time later,
I wrench out of deep sleep, alarmed. Lightning lights up the pup tent as
bright as day.
The smash of thunder immediately follows, strong enough to make the ground
shake. My heart
is flying, my adrenaline racing through my blood.
But it’s not the
storm that woke me.
Captain Mathis
is thrashing, struggling in the sleeping bag, mumbling names and
shouting words I
can’t understand. He managed to roll over me, and the sensation of being
temporarily
unable to breathe is what scared me out of sleep.
Night terrors.
Like Petr used to get.
I prop myself up
on my arm, twisted up in the sleeping bag with him. Our legs are
tangled, and I’m
lying half on top of him.
“Hey,” I
whisper, resting a hand on his arm. “Wake up, Sawyer.”
He calms at my
touch without waking. His head goes back and forth, and I recall what
Petr told me
about the dreams. He said it was like being trapped in a nightmare that was too
real, one based
on something terrible that happened. For him, he wasn’t able to get past the
night Mikael
died. Over and over, he watched our brother die, every night for weeks.
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I can’t think
about it without wanting to cry and focus on Captain Mathis. The night
terrors scare
me, remind me how deep the unseen wounds of battle really run. Petr’s body is
almost healed,
but I have a feeling he’s still having bad dreams.
“You’re safe,
Sawyer,” I say. “Wake up. It’s okay - you’re safe.”
They’re the same
words I used to repeat to Petr every night when his screams awoke me.
I rest a hand on
Captain Mathis’ forehead and murmur to him over and over, knowing
that eventually,
he’ll snap out of it. His body is trembling, his brow clammy. I take
everything in,
not sure why it bothers me so much to see him like this. It doesn’t seem like
anything affects
Iceman.
He wrenches
awake and sits. My hand drops, and I sit with him the best I can, one of my
legs caught
between his.
“You’re safe,
Sawyer,” I say again. I reach for him instinctively, wanting to help him the
way I did Petr.
He pulls away.
I do it again,
though, accustomed to this reaction from Petr. He used to tell me he didn’t
always know
where he was when he woke up and me speaking to him helped him realize he
wasn’t in the
middle of the battle anymore. Gently, I clasp my hands loosely around Sawyer’s
upper body the
best I can at the awkward angle and lean into him, resting my head on his
shoulder while
tugging him towards me. I’m still murmuring, waiting for him to register
where he is once
more.
There’s a
hesitation before his arms wrap around me, and he buries his face into the nape
of my neck. He’s
stronger than Petr was those first few weeks, his muscular arms pinning me
against him. I
relax into him, understanding what he needs right now. My voice helps, but
it’s my body
that grounds him in reality. He’s hanging on like he’s afraid to fall again
into the
dream world.
His breathing is
ragged, his skin covered in a sheen of sweat. His body trembles in my
arms. It alarms
me, a stark reminder that he was in the same firefight that killed one of my
brothers and
injured another. I want so bad to forget, to blame the cold man who let my
brothers get
hurt.
Any other time,
I can. Right now, it’s impossible to remain angry with him, when I’m
starting to
realize that he’s as broken inside as Petr was. He simply hides it better.
“You’re safe.”
He rests his
cheek against mine, his breathing growing steadier and the quaking
gradually
receding. I hold him and wait, uncertain what is stronger within me:
remembering
the pain I
experienced seeing Petr like this or the desire spiraling through me at the
feel of
our bodies
pressed together.
Lizzy Ford is the author of over thirty books
written for young adult and adult
romance readers, to include the internationally bestselling “Rhyn Trilogy,”
“Witchling Series” and the “War of Gods” series. Lizzy has focused on keeping
her readers happy by producing brilliant, gritty romances that remind people
why true love is a trial worth enduring. Lizzy’s books can be found on every
major ereader library, to include: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Sony
and Smashwords. She lives in southern Arizona with her husband, three dogs and
a cat.
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